Sensation
by Capricious-Cer
Summary: An origins story of Jet and Albert's first meeting in the confines of Black Ghost's labs.


There were moments of peace, if such a sensation could really be found in a facility such as this, and there were moments of terrible noise. Screams of fear, rage, and pain that would curdle the blood or even drive a man out of his mind if he were forced to listen.

No sound at all came from Jet's mouth, however. The young American had long since run out of fire and breath with which to scream. He sat noiseless, motionless, arms crossed firmly across his chest. How many days had passed since his capture? Since his modifications? He stared down at his bare feet and grimaced. The days had all melded together at this point. No point in keeping track. Black Ghost would never release him. And if they did? Their purpose would not be one he was eager to have a role in.

All the same…The silence…the unbearable emptiness that was born of day upon day of solitary confinements only punctuated by the foreign doctors and their probing tests it fostered a bitter loneliness that was starting to get to him. He could feel his grasp on reality and the world outside his cell loosening and slipping through his fingers. Teetering on the edge of yet another anxiety attack he could almost taste the iron tang of rage and desperation building in his chest and throat. His body shook with the effort of holding it all in. He wanted to scream and cry and demand satisfaction from his captors, but knew allowing it all to break loose would only end in fruitless exhaustion. He let it slip past chapped lips in the form of long shaky exhalation and curled his fingers into tighter fists against the thin fabric of his worn tee-shirt. There would be no change today, or any day soon…

The sound of a heavy iron door squawking on its hinges as it opened in the adjoining room filtered into his room through the ventilation grate above his head. Jet's eyes snapped open as he listened to the movements beyond the wall. Someone was being moved into the room next to him. He felt excited for a split second, the idea of another person being so close making him a bit emotional, but it quickly melted into guilt. It wasn't right to hope someone be kept in that room. Not in this place.

The sound of several doctors speaking in loud commanding voices trickled in through the metal grate. Jet squinted as he listened carefully to the language he didn't yet understand. Just what were they so upset about? His ears strained to listen harder then he suddenly wished he hadn't. A terrible anguished wail rattled the vent with the sheer volume of its exclamations. It grated against Jet's ears like the death cry of a cornered wild animal.

The first set of voices seemed startled, rising in pitch and urgency and metal instruments clattered. Jet covered his ears tightly with his hands and frowned, squeezing his eyes shut. He didn't have to understand or speak the language of the doctors to have an idea of what was going on in the next room. He curled against his knees and tried to not hear the screams and snarls of the tormented soul in the neighboring cell. Why did they not sedate the poor creature? Was black ghost really that sadistic in their experiments that even the howls of a dying man could be considered scientific?

The procedure seemed to go on for hours until at long last silence graced Jet's ears. He uncurled, hearing only the doctors gathering their tools and muttering to each other quietly. The heavy opening and closing of the iron door sounded and then, for a few terrible moments, there was nothing but the sound of a heart monitor. It was very faint and very slow as it marked each of the man's heartbeats with a bored tone. Jet could count the beats and the pauses that spanned vast between them, one…two…three…

So he was still alive in there. Angling himself to better project his voice into the next room, Jet knelt on his bed and called out quietly through the vent. "Hey…Hey, are you okay?" He chewed his lower lip as he awaited a response. What a stupid question to ask. Of course he wasn't okay, not after that. He might not even have a voice left with which to speak.

A few more moments and the American was about to give up on hoping for a reply, when a shaky affirming, "J-ja…" came back to him. It sounded so weak and was so rasped it was almost inaudible and Jet's ears stumbled to catch it. But it was enough. The small noise was enough to make Jet's heart leap up into his throat and make him stumble with his next inquiry. There was another person in the next room. Separated from him only by a few feet of metal and concrete was a living breathing soul who had affirmed its existence unto him. He wasn't alone. For now, he wasn't alone.

He swallowed his initial jitters and shifted his knees on the bed. "D-do you have a name? My name is Jet Link." There was a longer pause this time. The empty air spreading out with a mocking smile and rubbing against Jet's eardrums, letting him hear nothing but the sound of the vigilant heart monitor and his own breathing. Then, at long last, a soft labored exhale from his new found companion. "Albert…"

~.~

"Hilde…Hilde…" Her name was a looped track of anguish in Albert's mind. His body was going cold as he grasp her tightly in his hands. The pouring rain that fell upon them both did little to wash away the blood and dirt from her corpse. "Hilde…Soon, my love…Soon." He all but felt the life leaving his body as he cradled her closer to him, only vaguely aware of the men gathering like scavengers around them. His eyes had already closed to the world.

It was like being dunked under ice water to be suddenly pulled back into his body by the feeling of electric currents jump starting his heart. He lay awake, but too stunned to move, as his eyes tried to focus against the bright lights and figures moving around him. He tried to raise a hand to cover his eyes against the blaring lights, but found himself tightly strapped to the table he rested on. He twisted weakly in his bonds, very confused as to just where he was and what was going on. Then it all hit him at once, the searing pain all over his body.

He gasped, body arching against the leather straps and his eyes wide as his vision sharpened enough to see what was being done to his body, or rather what was left of it. His legs past the knee were gone completely. He shook, stunned as his gaze tilted down to his chest. The skin had been pulled back to expose his internal organs. His beating heart could be clearly seen moving beneath what remained of his rib cage…past that he could no longer focus. Panic rose in his throat like bile. A scream of pain and terror ripped from his throat. The doctors hurried to restrain him further, frantically giving orders to each other in Russian. Albert was helpless to do much more than scream and growl as one of the doctors forced a respirator mask over his face. Words were lost to his panicked mind leaving only feral sounds to tear from his vocal cords.

They did not sedate him, simply restrained him from thrashing. By the time they had closed him up again, Albert had drifted in and out of consciousness several times. They gathered their supplies and left him to rest. He was in so much pain his body was quaking with the efforts of even staying awake. He had almost fallen under again when he heard it. A very small voice, unsure and scared sounding, coming from the air vent above him. "…Hey…You okay?"

The German struggled to comprehend the language that was being almost whispered to him. English…There wasn't much he knew how to say in English anymore. It had never been a strong subject of his as a lad. But having something, someone, else to focus on anything else was enough to make him want to reply. "J-ja…" The one syllable he was able to rasp in reply was much more effort than he had expected and lit his raw throat ablaze.

He struggled not to cough or retch against the terrible sensation and almost missed the next reply. "…Name? My…Jet Link." Albert squinted as the ringing in his ears and the language barrier made replying difficult. Very slowly he pieced the clues together in his pounding skull and managed to mutter. "Albert…"


End file.
